Hired To Be Fired

The script

For Barry Melrose, it’s just another morning skate on the day of a game.

His team is struggling only two years after his Los Angeles Kings took the NHL by storm and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final to lose in five games to Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens.

But the flashy Melrose, who loves the spotlight and often looks like a cross between a Hollywood pimp and a mobster with his long hair — remember that mullets were all the rage in 1995 — and black pinstripe suits, isn’t worried. He knows his Kings will shake their funk. Besides, he has switched up his lines, changed goalies and even altered the forechecking system. Now that’s coaching, baby.

Surely something has to give; and it does.

When the skate ends, Melrose is summoned into the GM’s office. In no uncertain terms, Melrose hears the words numerous NHL coaches hear every season: “You’re fired.”

There’s no Donald Trump pointing in his direction. No TV lights or cameras, and no future in the Kings organization.

Just pack up your stuff and get the hell out of town.

“They call [assistant coach] Cap [Raeder] and I into the office and tell us we’re fired,” recalls Melrose, now a successful NHL analyst on ESPN.

“We’ve got our sons, I think they were 6 and 8 at the time, out on the ice and the kids are having the time of their lives. Now we have to go down and tell the boys we’ve been fired. Both of them burst into tears. They’re bawling their eyes out because just a few moments earlier their dads had the coolest jobs in the world, coaching the Los Angeles Kings.”

And if you think the kids are upset, just wait until Melrose’s wife, Cindy, hears the news.

“I call her and tell her to bring the truck down to the rink because Cap and I drove into work together,” Melrose says. “His car won’t fit all our stuff in it. Cindy is a very fiery lady and by time she gets to the rink, she is hopping mad. The Oilers are on the ice for their skate and she starts yelling, ‘Go Oilers! I hope you kick their asses tonight! The Kings suck!’ It was quite a scene.”

It’s a scene that many coaches and their families have been through. Perhaps the script was different, but the end result was the same.

You know the old saying: Coaches are hired to be fired. From the second a coach is hired, he is on the clock.